The invention relates generally to vehicle windows and, more particularly, to vehicle windows including an arrangement for electrically heating a section of a vehicle window corresponding to a wiper rest area.
It has been recognized for some time that, in cold weather conditions resulting in snow and ice, vehicle window wipers are susceptible to freezing or blocking to the window while in the rest or parking position. This is especially true with windshield wipers, which may be mounted at or below the level of the hood of the vehicle so that snow and ice is able to accumulate in the wiper rest area.
Arrangements for electrically heating the rest areas for windshield wipers are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,386,098, and 4,004,126 disclose an electric heating grid placed against the inside surface of a windshield proximate the wiper rest area. Bus bars were applied along the sides of the window and were joined by the electrically conductive filaments running transversely along the surface of the window between the bus bars. The outward appearance of these type of windows was, however, undesirable due to the visibility of the bus bars and filaments.
It is further common and well known with regard to vehicle windows to have glass with an obscuration band applied thereto for masking a portion of the structure to which the window is applied. The obscuration band hides otherwise visible features of the structure in which the windshield or structural glass is used. The obscuration band, whether a black ceramic enamel band, or other type, is normally screen printed onto the substrate to which it is being applied. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,130, the heating lines provided in the wiper rest area are sandwiched between opaque ceramic heat absorbing layers. The disclosed arrangement completely conceals the heating lines from view.